My First App, Need Serious Help :/

[dbG33K]

Hey guys, like the title says, I'm attempting to create an app, but with little success at this point.

What I want to do, didn't sound all that complicated in my head. I want to make an episode guide for a TV show I like. Nothing too fancy, but I do want it to look WP7-authentic.

First off, I don't know or really understanding coding in the slightest. I was hoping to be able to design most of the app through the on-screen WP7 display, which it seems I can do a lot on.

From what I've gathered, here's what I'd like to do:

Use the "Pivots" as the different story arcs or "seasons"
Within each pivot, Episode # and Title

But I'd also like to go one further and have each episode be clickable, which would take the user to a page containing info about the respective episode. Synopsis, International Titles, Airdate, etc.

It's a big project, I just need a little help getting it going.

Thanks!

dbG33K

 

[untrueparadox]

what you're describing can be done one of two ways.
1. just display images after images
2. input text into the program
from what im gathering, it should be fairly easy for you to do as this is the sort of beginner stuff in most windows phone 7 programming books. id suggest you look into programming because even the slightest pivots and transitions require code.

now if you were on android or webos, thats different. they have full on graphics based programming thats a simple matter of drag and drop and choose function.

 

[GuestK00306]

Download Expression Blend. You can do pretty much everything without having to write any code. It includes a "Pivot" template which has a pivot all ready for you, then you just add PivotItems using your mouse. Then you can use the Sample Data feature to mock up how your episode data will look.

The only thing you would have to write code for would be to pull the episode information from a datasource. Bind it to your controls and Expression will have the rest done for you.

http://www.microsoft.com/expression/windowsphone/

Sample Data:
http://expression.microsoft.com/en-us/ee426896.aspx

 

[xanderkaiber]

First thing you'll need before you even open Visual Studio or Blend is a data feed.

An rss feed is ideal, And I'm sure theres alot of them out there for TV listings. Without that, theres little you can do (other than screen scraping websites, but people don't look too kindly on that)

If you can find me a Url for the RSS feed you want to use, I'll be more than willing to help you out

 

[_calum_]

First thing you'll need before you even open Visual Studio or Blend is a data feed.

An rss feed is ideal, And I'm sure theres alot of them out there for TV listings. Without that, theres little you can do (other than screen scraping websites, but people don't look too kindly on that)

If you can find me a Url for the RSS feed you want to use, I'll be more than willing to help you out

What he said

I'd be willing to help you out as well. I'm in the process of writing a feed reader to help me make the move WP7 from WPF/Silverlight. The idea I have for the UI is similar to yours and the feed reader (at least in the basic form) will be open source so I've no problem sharing my code...

 

[dbG33K]

I appreciate your willingness to help me out, but it's actually a series that has been over for quite a while.

 

[dbG33K]

Hey guys, I've gotten much further on my app and have become a little more well-acquainted with coding in the form of using Expression Blend 4. That said, I do have a few questions:

1. After making a few pages, I decided to make a sort of Welcome page for my app. How do I tell it to show that page first instead of "MainPage.xaml"?

2. On that welcome page, I would like to make a button that pulls up the user's E-mail and have it have my e-mail as the recipient.

Thanks a bunch!

 

[barryallott]

This is in the WMAppManifest.xml file within the Properties folder.

for the email look into the email compose task

 

[dbG33K]

This is in the WMAppManifest.xml file within the Properties folder.

for the email look into the email compose task

That doesn't really help me too much...

What am I supposed to do in the WMAppManifest.xml?

And where do I find the email compose task, and how do I implement it into the app?

EDIT: Nevermind, I figured out both of those questions. A new question, though: How do I take screen shots of the app? I need at least one to submit it to the marketplace, but I don't know how :/

 

[GuestK00306]

That doesn't really help me too much...

What am I supposed to do in the WMAppManifest.xml?

And where do I find the email compose task, and how do I implement it into the app?

EDIT: Nevermind, I figured out both of those questions. A new question, though: How do I take screen shots of the app? I need at least one to submit it to the marketplace, but I don't know how :/

Download this:
http://www.innovativetechguy.com/?p=13

Make sure your emulator is set to 100% size and uncheck the "Show Device" checkbox in the tool. That will give you the necessary 480x800 sized .png

 

[cPT.cAPSLOCK]

There's a fair lot you can do using the designer panel, but you will definitely need C# code for what happens 'behind the curtains'. Things like pulling the episodes from the internet and such.

I definitely recommend these tutorials:
Windows Phone 7 Development for Absolute Beginners.

It builds up slowly, but definitely gives you the foundation you need to put together basic applications.

 

[aghnokneemoose]

Hey guys I found this thread and after reading it I feel I have a lot in common with dbG33K's tasks & questions. I feel I have a lot to offer WP7 apps as I learn more! I started out in January learning and studying as an absolute beginner (even did the 5 day course online). After a lot of studying, I felt confident enough to write my first BIG app.

I'm pretty good at the xaml part and getting real familiar with c# as I go along. Also, I think I have all the pieces I need, just need help putting it all together. I'm using an API for the data source (i have all the dlls and resources in place even all the c# methods for the API).

I have the UI all put together, now working on the c#. I'm just unsure on the binding part. I know my listboxes and other controls should be binded to a method in c#, but what calls that method? When the page loads that listbox, textblock, etc? Also, what kind of coding is generally used inside the {} of the methods that pulls info from the datasource?

As I have learned a lot aver the past couple of months, I find that I've learned it from examples I've found online, but I'm drawing a blank on this one. Any help would be great!

Thanks!

 

[acuatico69]

Do any of you can tellme how can I save text from the text box??

Sent from my LG-C900 using XDA Windows Phone 7 App